I think this business model is likely suitable only for a few types of games:
Games with a repetitive gameplay loop. Multiplayer or single player, but something where you want to start another run/match/game when you finish.
And sandbox games where there’s no limit to the gameplay.
But for games it’s suitable for, the free marketing you get from content creators is the best publicity you could hope for, and a great way to stand out in an increasingly overcrowded and competitive market.
That is a question where the answer is very complex. You’d have to break down different game design philosophies, think them through, and then apply them to specific games.
In general, I have two gut reactions:
If players are desiring to change the difficulty of the bosses compared to the rest of the game, the devs have to ask if there is a failure of design on their part. An example of this would be Dues Ex Human Revolution, which was an immersive sim that supported many different character builds, except the boss fights which were entirely based on combat. This created a frustrating and unfair situation to players not making a combat built character. The solution was that the boss fights were completely redesigned in the Director’s Cut release to support alternate builds. This is one example, but naturally there are many more. If a game has a “that boss”, the devs should look at it and examine if there is a problem with the design. Is a battle too comparatively difficult? Too tedious? Only suitable for certain builds (in games with builds)? Is the battle too much of a departure from standard gameplay in the rest of the game?
A popular game is going to get mods. If there is a strong desire in the player base, the mod is going to happen regardless of dev stubbornness, so devs may as well just give the people what they want. If a game is praised but has outcry for boss difficulty sliders, either put it in officially or incorporate it into the sequel.
I learned about it from Civvie11’s video. I have unfortunately not played it yet, although I fully intend to. It’s stuck on a long backlog list. I really admire such an ambitious game that fully commits to a design and aesthetic which the devs surely knew would be obtuse and offputting to a wider audience. Making a game focused on a vision, without compromise is really a great thing.
It’s a sorta virtual novel type game, but it absolutely knew what it wanted to be and nails it 100% of the time. It’s teenage edge with an edge so sharp it actually breaks skin.
I went to several schools and had a lot of shitty drama growing up and it somehow nails that perfect catharsis while being funny as hell. They released an anime style trailer that made me buy it. I think it was the perfect limbic test for the whole game.
I think the (re)advent of demos has been an amazing boon for the industry that it forgot. Whether simplified full games or up-to-a-point full releases, it’s great to give things a try before you buy. Demos were huge in the 90s, and then capitalism thought it knew better.
I, for one, have bought more games this year in part due to the demos, whereas I used to demure to frugality and concern over refund policies.
I mean … Valve has an extremely reliable 2 hours or 2 weeks policy which is good enough for most games IMO. I’ve rarely needed more than that in terms of a demo to gauge whether I want to keep something or not
And that’s great for you, but I have a family, and sometimes I have to pause a game, and that means those two hours can go up quick. Demos are inclusive to people like me.
I guess that’s fair, but a lot of games also have “save anywhere” kind of saves where you can just close the game. Or they’re “there is no pause button” games.
I’ve added a number of games to my wishlist I probably would have blown past thanks to a great demo.
The flip side is, sometimes the demo shows a promising game that doesn’t quite deliver on the original premise or introduces new, chunky systems for no reason and it’s all the more frustrating because the demo got my hopes up.
UFC 5. It’s very not-different from UFC 4 but that’s kind of okay. It was fun before and I need to catch up on my trophy collection after spending too much time with Diablo 4.
I played a few minutes of Spider-Man 2. It’s about as enjoyable as expected but I can play only one controller-heavy game at a time so I’ll come back to this later.
Cities: Skylines 2. Hugely problematic launch, but it runs acceptably for me on Linux (just over 40fps consistently on a Ryzen 5 7600X and a 6600 XT). I’ve got all settings on high (except Volumetric Quality set to Disabled and AA set to TAA) and it honestly looks quite good, especially with DOF set to tilt-shift.
In terms of the game itself, I’m very much enjoying it. Every mechanic seems more detailed than C:S1 and there is a lot more planning needed to make a really successful city. Not without bugs but nothing game breaking. Lacks some of the annoyances in the first game (like needing water pipes everywhere).
I started playing Ring of Pain. It’s a deckbuilder-ish roguelite. There isn’t really a deck, it’s more of a loadout-builder (or tableau builder in boardgame terms). Meteorfall: Krumit’s Tale is the closest thing I’ve played before. RoP is sort of like a 1d version of that. Fun and fairly unique mechanics, smooth implementation. Runs great on the steamdeck too, good controller support.
Played it on LSD. Loved it, bog business had me so fucked up during my peak. That soundtrack was… 👌 and then on the corporate assault level I had an interview with Mike Lindell playing in the background where he was talking about the “cyber symposium” and China and the election and I was so immersed going in and killing corporate HVTs.
Thanks for suggestion. I checked the trailer, but I don't think it's worth for me to try the demo. It's just not my type of game.
I myself addded 3 games to my wishlist after checking out the demos on steam this year. First one was manor lords back in march. then came Pagonia and enshrouded in october.
I am sure that releasing demo versions of games can make a difference. Many studios lack the financial power do do months-long marketing campains. Many players are even bored by such campains are are more impressed when they can get their hands on an upcoming title instead of having to watch the same trailer 50 times on youtube or in commercial TV. Many gamers do even avoid platforms as twitch or tiktok, and can't be reached by avldvertising via this platforms.
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